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15 July 2008 : Column 249W—continued
The Environment Agency started monitoring passenger boat movements through locks (traffic) in 2004. The figures are shown in the following table:
| Number | |
The Environment Agency does not specifically monitor freight traffic as this is currently negligible on the non-tidal Thames.
Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what money has been received in the last 10 years from the European Union for promoting greater use of the River Thames for (a) passenger and (b) freight traffic. [217906]
Jonathan Shaw: The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the non-tidal River Thames (source to Teddington). No money has been received in the last 10 years from the European Union for promoting greater use of the River Thames for passenger and freight traffic. The Thames Valley is not a priority area for European funding.
Shellfish
Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) who has powers to close shellfish waters to fishing on grounds of pollution or toxicity levels; [217047]
(2) what steps his Department takes to prevent shellfish from (a) British and (b) other waters being marketed when affected by radioactivity or other pollution. [217048]
Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
Food business operators are responsible for placing safe food on the market.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is the competent authority for food safety, and is responsible for designating and classifying shellfish beds and ensuring that these areas are monitored for microbiological contamination and the presence of marine biotoxins in accordance with the relevant food safety legislation. In England and Wales this monitoring is undertaken by local enforcement authorities. Delegated powers are conferred on local enforcement authorities to close shellfish beds when monitoring results exceed specified legal limits.
The FSA also carries out a comprehensive monitoring programme around United Kingdom nuclear sites and further afield to ensure the safety of seafood from radioactive pollution. For shellfish from other waters, the port health authorities have the powers to sample shellfish (and other foods) for radioactive pollution and prohibit their placing on the market in the UK, if appropriate.
Subject to ministerial approval, the FSA may also issue Emergency Closure Orders under the Food and Environment Protection Act 1995 to close shellfish beds due to toxicity or pollution levels.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest: Environment Protection
Ben Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what his policy is on the preservation of heathland on Sites of Special Scientific Interest. [217668]
Joan Ruddock: Our policy for heathland on Sites of Special Scientific Interest is to avoid any loss of extent, to maintain the condition of those areas in favourable condition and to improve conditions in those areas that are currently unfavourable.
We are on course to meet the PSA target of 95 per cent. of SSSIs in favourable or recovering condition by 2010. The current figure for heathland SSSIs is 79.2 per cent.
Home Department
Antisocial Behaviour Orders: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many antisocial behaviour orders were (a) issued and (b) breached in Wales in each year since they were introduced. [218770]
Mr. Coaker:
The number of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs) issued and breached in Wales (up to 31 December 2006) are given in the following tables. The first table shows the number of orders issued (by year and by area) and the second the number of orders
breached in each year by area. It is of course possible that an order recorded as having been breached in, say, 2004 could have been issued in 2003, and therefore the two tables are not directly comparable.
| Table 1: Number of antisocial behaviour orders issued at all courts, as reported to the Home Office by the Court Service, by CJS area and year, April 1999 to December 2006 | |||||||
| 1999-2000 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | ||
| CJS area | Total issued | Apr 99-May 00 | Jun-Dec | ||||
| 2005 | 2006 | |||||||||
| CJS area | Jan-Mar | Apr-Jun | Jul-Sep | Oct-Dec | Total | Jan-Mar | Apr-Jun | Jul-Sep | Oct-Dec | Total |
| Notes: 1. Previously issued data have been revised. 2. Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: Prepared by OCJR | ||||||||||
| Table 2: ASBOs proven in court to have been breached for the first time within the periods shown( 1) by CJS area( 2) from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2006 | ||||||
| CJS area | 2000-02( 3) | 2003 | 2004 | 200 | 2006 | Total |
| (1) ASBOs may be breached more than once and in more than one year. In this table ASBOs are counted once only within the period when they were first breached. (2) ASBOs may be issued in one area and breached in another. Breaches are counted in this table by area of issue. (3) From 1 June 2000. Note: Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. Source: OCJR Court Proceedings Database | ||||||
Burglary: Wales
Mrs. Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many burglaries were reported in each police authority area in Wales in each year since 1997; and how many convictions for burglary were obtained in each authority area in each of those years. [218777]
Mr. Coaker: Statistics on the number of recorded offences of burglary in Wales for the years 1997 to 2006-07 are given in Tables 1-3.
Statistics on the number of defendants found guilty at all courts in Wales for burglary for the years 1997 to 2006 are provided in Table 4. Information for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
The figures given in Table 4 relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offence for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the offence selected is the one for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Caution must be used when looking at recorded crime statistics and convictions statistics as these are from two different databases and recorded in quite different ways. Recorded crime data are provided on a financial year basis and count offences whereas court proceedings data are on a calendar year basis and count offenders. Therefore, these two separate data-sets are not directly comparable.
| Table 1 Offences of burglary recorded by the police in Wales, 1997 | |
| Police force area | Number of offences |
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